The trailer of Shah Rukh Khan’s upcoming high-octane actioner Jawan was released by the makers on Thursday. It begins with Shah Rukh narrating a story. “Once upon a time, there was a king. He lost every battle. He wandered into the jungle, thirsty, and hungry. He was very angry.”
There are glimpses of a mummified SRK being treated in a village. We then see a bald terrorist (also SRK) who has taken passengers hostage in the Mumbai metro. His accomplices are six girls, including Sanya Malhotra, Priyamani, Ridhi Dogra and Sanjeeta Bhattacharya. On the case is Nayanthara’s cop character.
While negotiating with the terrorist Nayanthara asks what he wants. SRK cheekily replies, “Alia Bhatt.” Parallelly, there is a story of Shah Rukh as a soldier who has angered a weapon dealer Kalee (Vijay Sethupathi). We see visuals of probably an army raid gone wrong. From the trailer, it seems like SRK is playing a double role of father and son. As SRK’s soldier character is punched in the face, another white-haired rugged-looking SRK can be seen whipping the bad guys with a belt.
“Before touching the son, talk to the daddy,” he says. Previously, three songs and a prevue had been released by the film’s makers. The songs are: ‘Not Ramaiya Vastavaiya’, ‘Chaleya’ and ‘Zinda Banda’. On Wednesday, a pre-release event for the film was held in Chennai amid much fanfare. Among the highlights was the presence of Vijay Sethupathi, who has already appeared in the Hindi series Farzi and the film Mumbaikar. For him, Jawan is special for more than one reason. The actor, will not only be screening the screen space with Shah Rukh Khan for the first time, but also will be playing an antagonist, thus fulfilling a lifelong wish.
Sethupathi said, “A good artist must be a good human to give life to a character. SRK is a great human, who loves everyone equally. I love his spontaneity and knowledge.” But what makes it special for Sethupathi even more, playing antagonist, goes back to his school days. Sharing a flashback, he said, “I had a huge crush on a girl in school, but she was madly in love with SRK, I guess I have finally fulfilled my revenge against him with Jawan, as his antagonist.”
His speech evoked a wave of laughter among the audience. Editor Ruben, who worked in the film, also had some good things to share about Khan at the event. He said: “Atlee and I keep pushing us to work harder in all our projects together, and I am positive that our hardwork for Jawan will pay off.” It is to be noted that the film, which marks Atlee’s directorial debut in Hindi, also marks the maiden Hindi venture for composer Anirudh Ravichander and actors Vijay Sethupathi and Nayanthara. While Ruben called Vijay Sethupathi is “menacing as the antagonist”, the editor also shared his thoughts on Khan.
Calling the latter a “selfless actor”, he said, “Whenever I trim a scene, he would ask me to cut out his portions to retain the performances of others.” Finally, director Atlee recalled his roots while talking about working with ‘King’ Khan. Atlee took the mic and credited Vijay for encouraging him to do Jawan. He said, “Jawan happened because of Vijay anna, my thalaivan. He encouraged me to do the film without any second thoughts.”
Speaking on his roots and the time before working with Shah Rukh Khan, he shared, “Shah Rukh Khan is more special to me than my father. I used to be one of the people who took photos outside his gate a decade ago. Working with a star like him feels surreal even now.”
He further added, “I had planned to complete Jawan in eight months but COVID delayed our plans. I am a diehard fan of Thalapathy Vijay and I never back off from the promise I made. Here is Jawan ready for release after years of wait and struggle.”
Backed by Red Chillies Entertainment, Jawan is set to hit the theatres on September 7. Priyamani, Sanya Malhotra, Ridhi Dogra, and Yogi Babu round off as the supporting cast.
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